Proceedixgs of the Farmers' Club. 319 



Affections of Domestic Animals. 



Dr. J. Y. C. Smith. — When domesticated animals are treated kindly 

 they become exceedingly fond of the society of those having the care 

 of them. Most of the very strong ones love approbation, and watch 

 with anxiety for an expression of the eye or the sound of a word that 

 indicates an interest in their condition. Some manifest sometliing 

 more than a mere personal attachment for a master. They actually 

 give evidence of the existence of a moral sentiment. 



It is among the curiosities of anatomical science that the muscles 

 of expression which are brought together in the human face, are 

 widelv distributed over the bodies of the lower orders. A tiger, for 

 example, shows his anger by exposing a frightful row of teeth, with a 

 growl ; the horse by bearing back the ears, preparatory to an unmis- 

 takable kick ; while the cat sputters, raises her back, and turns out 

 her sharp claws that are not to be tampered with in her wrath. A 

 dog in anger, makes known his sentiments nearly in the same way, 

 but welcomes a friend by wagging the tail. He is the only one of a 

 large group that expresses good nature by muscular force. The 

 peaceable disposition of the horse, ass, mule, bull, sheep, goat, deer, 

 rabbits, and swine, is manifested simply by quietude, unless we admit 

 the first to possess a higher degree of intelligence, which is not to be 

 questioned ; but there is no play of the muscular apparatus of the 

 face or body that enables him to show it. It is literally impossible 

 to determine by looking at the faces of either of those familiar ani- 

 mals whether they are pleased or oifended. They all have the pow-er 

 of exhibiting the passion of displeasure and excited rage, but noth- 

 mg more, unless it may be found occasionally in a restless cow that 

 gives additional emphasis to her dislike by driving a foot into the 

 milk pail. Collins, the poet, recognized this extraordinay dispersion 

 of the muscles of expression from the face of animals, which are 

 clustered into such limited boundaries in the human face, where 

 every feeling of the soul is expressed in an ineffable language, like 

 writing on the wall, which indicates the workings of the intellect. 

 In a pastoral, Colin, a discarded lover, laments the unhappiness to 

 which fate has consigned him in a characteristic j^laint, that expresses 

 the depressed feelings of the melancholy peasant : 



" I call my dog to me, I call him poor Tray, 

 But his tail but just waggles, he so pities me." 



Throughout the eastern hemisphere those magnificent stallions 



